From the Wall Street Journal:

Five friends with developmental disabilities are losing their group home in Highland, Illinois, this week because Community Link, the non-profit agency running the home, cannot afford to keep it open.

The cash-strapped state of Illinois is the main source of funds for Community Link, and is $1.4 million behind on its payments. Executive director John Foppe says he and his staff whittled budgets and extended credit lines, but it was not enough. That means the five residents (above) who have formed a makeshift family and reliable routines must be displaced.

Illinois ranks last among the states in providing small residential settings for people with developmental disabilities. An excerpt:

What is happening in this southern, largely rural corner of Illinois is echoed around the state as a history of low funding for community living collides with the economic crisis, forcing drastic cuts. People with disabilities are being moved into larger, unfamiliar settings or spending their days idle because vans no longer take them to sheltered workshops to do jobs for pay.

(Wall Street Journal photo)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 1st, 2008 at 12:07 pm and is filed under budget, Down syndrome, group homes, intellectual/developmental disabilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.